Solution
by WinterVines
Summary: Sasuke wandered aimlessly. As he trekked across Earth country, he felt a peculiar lack of purpose. Companion to Variable. SasuSaku.


This was a long time coming. I should be doing Mythology homework, so of course I'm writing instead. A little frustrated that I have to keep this piece aligned with what happened in Variable, but I do like writing from Sasuke's point of view. I do not own these characters.

* * *

Solution

* * *

Sasuke wandered aimlessly.

As he trekked across Earth country, he felt a peculiar lack of purpose. Itachi was dead, and he wasn't sure what to do.

It was strange. All his life he had a plan. First, he had to impress his father. Then, his path of being a great ninja was revealed. When his brother did the unforgivable, Sasuke had started his hunt.

Now he was lost.

His brother's demise was complete, with the earth bearing witness in the blood that soaked into it. Sasuke had drifted from country to country ever since, not quite knowing where his feet were taking him. He had been weary, and still was, but he couldn't stop.

The ground suddenly gave way under his foot, and the ninja had to jump back quickly as crumbles of sand and small rocks fell into a head-sized pit that appeared. With a frustrated sigh, Sasuke flicked his hand through his spiky hair. Besides the sink holes, this country was full of cliffs and crags—some that appeared out of nowhere. More than once he'd already had to take drastic action as the rock dropped off in front of him, making moving through this place difficult.

It was annoying—and he ignored the pang that thought brought him—but at least it was better than the endless rain in Ame. On cue, the clouds shifted above and it started to sprinkle.

He pulled the collar of his dark travel cloak up on reflex and narrowed his eyes at the sky, as if he could make them tremble. Small stones at his feet rattled then, and Sasuke tensed his shoulders. He was no master of weather.

Three ninja burst from the ground, showering him in a layer of dirt and rock as he instinctively launched himself backward, his hand hovering over the hilt of his Kusanagi in warning.

They were Rock nin, given away by the slashed symbols on their headbands. Sasuke's eyes spun into red as he assessed them. Poachers looking for a bounty, probably. Did he still fetch a price? He felt a presence behind him as four other rouges appeared, and his jaw set.

_Fight_, his instinct whispered through his mind and along his skin, his senses heightening as adrenaline started to rush. It was a false purpose, meant to be temporary, but he would fight all the same. As the first Rock nin dashed toward him with kunai in hand, Sasuke was ready.

He blurred as he slashed and evaded, projectiles lancing out to hit arteries and pierce eyes. The Sharingan blazed as he fought off his attackers, matching hit for hit. He wasn't sure if they recognized him or not, and he didn't care.

He was just tired.

They started herding him, and Sasuke knew it, but he was vastly outnumbered. A drop-off was coming up close, the lip of the cliff looking as inviting as it could. It led into a valley that he couldn't judge the depth of yet. Even if he could survive the fall, he didn't want to be trapped if there was no path out of it.

When Sasuke tried to make a break for open ground, enemies just rushed in from the opposite side, pushing him back toward the ledge. He ground his teeth in frustration, reaching out to slam his fist into a man that had gotten close as Sasuke's hand exploded into chirping and electricity.

He felt a flicker of chakra from below and stubbornly held his ground with his back to the cliff. He couldn't tell who made up the new group in the valley, but there were a lot of them. If they were foes, he would deal with them later.

Sasuke let his hand spark as he reached for his sword. He would have to finish these assailants quickly if he wanted to escape the notice of the ones lurking below. It wasn't raining hard enough for the water to help conduct the electricity, so his blade would have to do.

He had just touched the hilt when the earth below trembled violently. Sasuke lurched forward, keeping mindful of the ledge. There was a strong earth user down there.

That second of distraction was all the enemy needed. His eyes caught the foe finishing the symbols for a fire jutsu, and Sasuke rolled his eyes. His own digits flew through the signs for his Katon almost before the enemy nin could finish. As the foe's fireball released, Sasuke matched and exceeded it, firing off a larger surge of energy to meet it.

The collision of flame exploded, and a shower of rocks was pulled upward in the blast. Sasuke had to throw up an arm as fiery gusts blew back at him, but it was little use. The ground gave under his feet, and the force of the wind sent him flying as chunks of the cliff shattered and rained down into the valley, his body among them.

Sasuke forced his muscles loose moments before he crashed into the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of him but not breaking any bones. His ears rang sharply for a second as he pushed his body up, red eyes piercing through the dust to watch for the enemy. The daze lingered until he shook it off, brushing pieces of rock off his shoulders.

A chakra pattern he recognized spiked on the edge of his senses. It couldn't be. Naruto…?

There was no time to confirm what his senses were telling him. Ninja rained down from above, and he was forced to fend off advancing strikes as he drew his blade. Steel clanged sharply as he forced his attackers back, but more just took their place. They were surrounding him—exactly what he had been trying to avoid.

Then, a familiar yell echoed down from the other end of the valley. There was a flash of pink, and Sasuke had a second's notice to dodge out of the way as a large boulder came crashing into the circle the foe was making around him. The men had to scatter, giving Saskue precious moments to catch his breath and edge toward one of the cliff walls.

A form joined him with hard green eyes and flowing pink hair. Sasuke stared at her for a second, amazed at just who it was. No longer was his former teammate someone who stood on the sidelines—she had thrown that gigantic rock. She met his gaze for an instant, but he couldn't read her face. There wasn't time for words as his pursuers closed in once again.

They fought back to back. Despite him breaking their bonds, they fell into an easy understanding. He let himself trust her to guard his blind side while he did the same. Foes were cut down one by one now that there were two of them.

He did watch her more than necessary, however, at first not knowing the extent of her skills. Old habits crept up, and it was weird to witness how much her fighting had changed. An enemy lashed out with a blade, and she didn't even flinch as it grazed her. Instead, she threw back a fist and slammed into the nin's jaw. Sasuke heard bones snap as the man's body flew. On top of that, the bleeding gash in her shoulder was covered up with gloved fingertips and then gone, healed instantly with chakra.

This Sakura was strange to him.

"Sakura, down!" he called, as he finished the seals for his fire.

Without question, she slid down to kick the feet out from under a Rock nin as Sasuke's fireball sailed over her head to crash into a duo sneaking up behind her. She sent him a fierce grin as she got up, and he couldn't help but notice that she looked like she was enjoying herself.

Eventually, the assault started to lesson. The rouges started scattering like rodents as they sustained injury after injury, finally deciding their prey was not worth the risk. Sasuke sneered at them, tensing his own arm that has a gash running down it. He ignored the sting of the rocks mixing with the blood as he picked off stragglers.

Sakura caught his eyes for a second, and he saw her intent just before she took a large step. Chakra flared in her limb, and Sasuke barely managed to jump close to her as she crashed her foot down, steadying himself clear of the blast zone. The earth responded, quaking and groaning as it caught unaware ninja in the fissure that split the rock in front of the girl.

Dust billowed up around them in thick waves as he strained his eyes. Then, the whistle of moving air. Sasuke moved before he even processed what he was doing.

With a swing of his sword, metal clanged, and a kunai sailing toward Sakura's head deflected off the rocks harmlessly. The offending ninja panicked and bolted, and it took a lot of will for Sasuke to plant his feet.

The sound alerted Sakura, and she looked back at him with wide eyes before she realized what had happened. They shared a look, but he wasn't sure what she saw. A retreat was called, and she nodded at him as she turned around again, keeping watch for leftovers. The last of the rouges fled as their chakra signatures disappeared.

Sasuke let out a large breath, the adrenaline rush in his veins starting to fade. He sheathed his sword and backed up so he was near the wall, watching as the dust cleared away to reveal the rest of the valley. He leaned up against the rock face, wincing as the muscle in his arm pulled.

When the field was clear, Sakura had her hands on her thighs, bending as she caught her breath. Her hair hung down to nearly her waist, and he wondered when she had started growing it out again. The last time he had seen her, it had been cropped short.

Naruto's ridiculous orange jacket caught his sight on the other end of the valley, together with Kakashi, and a pale-eyed woman that must be a Hyuuga. Hinata, he thought her name was. He didn't need his whirling Sharingan to see how apprehensive they looked as they watched the pink-haired woman—how tense they were. As if Sasuke would hurt her.

His eyes spun back to black as he pulled them back to his former teammate. He already did that.

His gaze flicked down as she straightened, brushing the dust that had clung to her clothes. He noted that some of the stains were blood, but she didn't seem bothered by it. When he looked up, she was watching him cautiously. She wasn't the same girl she had been.

He remembered the way she had grinned in the fight, and he couldn't say she didn't glow just a little, the way some people got a rush after a run. She was beautiful in a wild way, with her long hair flared out and flecks of blood and dirt streaked on her clothes and skin. There was a hard edge to her now, but that wasn't really a bad thing. She could stand toe to toe with him, and he could respect that. Sakura may not have looked much different, but she had changed.

As if reading his thoughts, she spoke. It almost sounded like she was talking to herself as she ran a gloved hand through her hair absently. "I told myself I would have some control. That I wouldn't act like I was twelve again," she said, the hand in her hair rubbing over her face and smudging dirt on her cheek. "Instead, I rush off like an idiot and I have no idea what to do now. I wonder what happened to that girl that made that promise."

Even loathe to admit it, her rushing off had probably helped him out quite a bit. A pressure loosened a little in him then. As different as she was, there were still some things familiar about her. They weren't total strangers yet. He supposed that relief is what gave him his next words—an acknowledgement that had been silent too long.

"She got stronger," he said simply.

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked at him, as if she had just realized what she'd said. Her body had gone stiff with surprise, and Sasuke shrugged. It was just truth.

"In some ways," she said after a few seconds of silence. He could see her fingers curl into fists as they brushed her side, her eyes lost to the past, when she had been weak for him. Maybe she would always be.

At first, he hadn't understood it. He still didn't, really. But now, after everything was done and he wasn't preoccupied, maybe he could start. She hadn't given up on him, even after he had. Part of him wanted to know what she saw left in him to save.

"Maybe we're all weak for somebody."

"Even you?" she asks.

He heard the underlying questions in her words as clear as if she spoke them aloud. She had always been saying them, but now he was listening.

He heard _Do you remember what I told you_ in how her lips flattened out, not allowing herself to hope, heard _Does it even matter_ in the soft curve of her shoulder, slouching in so subtly that he would've missed it if he hadn't been looking.

Sasuke dragged his body up a little straighter as his muscles whined. He was tired, but that isn't all. He felt a churning anger stir in him from her words. He was angry for a second that she wasted so much time on him when he wasn't worth it, when she could've moved on, could've been happy—

"Aa."

But he was glad she did all the same.

There was a second of silence, and then she threw herself at him faster than he could react. He slammed against the rock face as she hugged him, jarring his sliced arm. Sasuke hissed through his teeth, and then everything froze for a second, her arms stilling where they had wound around him. She didn't move, angled down so only the top of her pink head was visible on his chest.

"Sorry," she whispered, barely audible even to his trained ears.

She was waiting for him to react, to shove her off and scoff like he would've done years ago. But just like she had changed, he thought he could be a little more mature too. Instead, he steeled himself and brought his injured arm around her back, keeping it mostly straight so he didn't pull the wound and make it bleed again. His fingers lightly grasped the back of her shirt in what was his first hug in a long, long time.

Sakura became a statue at the contact, whipping her head up to look at him with wide green eyes. He would admit that it was odd for him too, but not exactly unpleasant. Human contact was something foreign. But he remembered his mother's kind eyes and warm embraces, and now that that deep fear that he would lose everything again was gone, he was slightly more open to revisiting those feelings.

"It's alright," he said, curiously running his fingers through the silky strands of her hair. Tears welled up in her eyes, and he hesitated.

"I missed you," she said, leaning up to press her forehead into his unhurt shoulder as her arms tightened around him. He paused for a moment, fighting off the well-trained urge to push her away, releasing the automatic tension in his muscles before he answered.

"Aa."

_Me too._

He was so tired of everything. In that moment, things were okay, so he let himself relax and lean into her. There were no murdered clans, no vengeance quests, and no life or death battles to sever bonds. There was only calm.

The peace, of course, didn't last. Sasuke barely held in a sigh as Naruto's booming voice sped closer. Sakura turned as he looked up, and he saw the tear tracks had left clean trails in the dirt on her face. He expected to get dirty looks or maybe a lecture for making her cry again, but she was laughing.

The orange-clad ninja had his arm around the Hyuuga, and he immediately launched into a tirade about how he knew they'd always find him or some such nonsense. Kakashi was hovering, not close or far, but it wasn't awkward. As he pulled out a well-worn orange book, Sasuke thought it was just like old times.

He drowned out the babble as he leaned more heavily against the rock face, meeting Sakura's eyes for a second. He didn't let go of the loose grip he had on the back of her shirt, and she didn't really move too far away from him. It was a strange feeling, but in some ways, it was natural.

With his old team near and the prospect of returning home, the answer to his problem became clear. The end of his journey could be no other way. He really should have known.

* * *

I still dislike writing actiony scenes. Thanks for reading! Any sort of feedback is most welcome.


End file.
